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Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Day Zero Project #78: Ask 5 friends to suggest one book, and read them all.

Whew, it's been a little while since I've been on here and I suppose it's time to kick it up a notch if I'm going to finish my list on time. The good news is that I haven't been entirely idle during this break from my regularly scheduled posts. I have managed to read a few books that my friends suggested.

I don't know if it is more surprising that I have friends who read or that they suggested some good books, but I was thankful for the chance to read some things outside my general norm (Top 100 book lists and Hubert Selby Jr novels).

I don't fee like typing today so here's a quick review of what was suggested, who suggested it and a thought or two on the book.

1. 11/22/63 by Stephen King - suggested by Vicky.

I have my own mom (who is always referred to as Madre). I have my Aunt Cheryl, whom we can also call Mom #2a. And then there's Vicky, my friend's Mom who I probably saw more of than either of the other two due to the fact that I was at her house so much I had my own bedroom there. We can call her Mom #2b. She's a librarian so I expected her to suggest something a bit more obscure, but in my book snobbery I tend to overlook popular authors and that's a shame. Stephen King is a great author and this is another in a long line of good books. The main problem was that it was something like 900 pages and I think it probably could have benefited from being a little shorter.

2. 50 Shades of Grey by E. L. James - suggested by Kelly.

Kelly is a friend. She watches Bad Girls Club. I'm not 100% sure what that is, but if it's anything like this book, it's horrible. Seriously, why did 50 bazillion people think this was good? The grammar and writing style was atrocious. I guess including one or two sex scenes is all it takes to be good.

3. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Wells - suggested by Annie.

Annie is my wife's cousin. I don't know her very well, but judging by her Christmas letters she's actually a little bit more interesting than me and my wife, which is very difficult! This book, also interesting, was hampered by the fact that I feel like 50% of everything someone writes in a memoir is B.S. "I remember being three years old, staring at the skies and being amazed at the wide open dessert" No you don't. People don't remember being three that vividly. Or maybe they do and my memory is just horrible since I can just vaguely recall something about G. I. Joes.

4. Anthem by Ayn Rand - suggested by Traci.

I met Traci on vacation and she was interesting enough for me to take her advice and read this book. It was good, maybe even great. I'm not happy that I liked it because Ayn Rand fans tend to be more fanatical than a die-hard Philadelphia sports fans with the exception that Rand like guns even more.

5. Long Time Gone by David Crosby - suggested by Jerry

Jerry is my uncle and studying to be a DJ. That's probably cooler than whatever you are doing right now. This book was probably my favorite of the five. I already like biographies of musicians, so this is right up my alley. And who knew wholesome looking, sweet voiced David Crosby was that crazy. The guy constantly lived with at least two girls and took more drugs than Ozzy Osbourne. Amazing stuff.